The Reel

Directed by James Hunter and Amanda Marquis. The 6 time nominated and 2 time award winning The Turnaround, is a movie about a young man name Marquise, who is raised by his God mother Debra after losing both of his parents as a youngster. Marquise has a God-given writing ability that he overlooks due to hard times. It’s because of these hard times that he finds himself torn between a life of crime with his cousin D-Rock, or living a Godly life, which includes his following his writing ambitions. He ends up getting pulled in two different directions. Ultimately, a tragic event lands him in a dangerous position where he is forced to choose between right and wrong.

Even though April is almost over people should go see the latest films in theaters. The most popular movie this year is “The Fate and the Furious”, the eighth installment of the fast and furious franchise. This movie will be the first movie to not star the Late Paul Walker.

Down below are a list of my top movies which range from action, suspense, children, and comedy.

Action Movie: The Fate and the Furious

When a mysterious woman seduces Dom into the world of terrorism and a betrayal of those closest to him, the crew face trials that will test them as never before.

Suspense and Drama: Unforgettable

Tessa Connover (Katherine Heigl) is barely coping with the end of her marriage when her ex-husband, David, becomes happily engaged to Julia (Rosario Dawson). Trying to settle into her new role as a wife and a stepmother, Julia believes she has finally met the man of her dreams, the man who can help her put her own troubled past behind her. Tessa’s jealousy takes a pathological turn, and she will stop at nothing to turn Julia’s dream into the ultimate nightmare.

Children’s Movie: The boss baby

A suit-wearing briefcase-carrying baby pairs up with his seven-year old brother to stop the dastardly plot of the CEO of Puppy Co.

Comedy: Going in Style

Desperate to pay the bills and come through for their loved ones, three lifelong pals risk it all by embarking on a daring bid to knock off the very bank that absconded with their money.

Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” actor Chris Pratt decided to go on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday, February 28, 2017 to debut the trailer of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 which is set to release on May 5, 2017. The movie stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper with newcomer, Pom Klementieff (as mantis) and returning stars Karen Gillan (as Nebula) and Michael Rooker (as Yondu). Viewers aslo get to see Kurt Russel star as “Ego the Living Planet” and being the father of Star Lord (played by Chris Pratt). The trailer shows a new villain named Ayesha is the ruler of the sovereign people and is viewed as the antagonist in the movie.

The Oscars took place on Sunday, February 26, 2017 in the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The host of the award show was television host Jimmy Kimmel. The 2017 Oscars had a lot of memorable moments. Viola Davis became the first black woman to receive an Oscar, Tony and a Emmy for acting. Another memorable moment was when the presenter mistakenly announced “La La Land” as best picture instead of “Moonlight”. PriceWaterHouseCoopers the company that was in charge of the winner envelopes stated that one of their partners Brian Cullinan gave presenter Warren Beatty the wrong envelope. The envelop that was given to the presenters stated Emma Stone from “La La Land” won, which caused the presenter to think that La La Land won best picture. PriceWaterHouseCoopers have publicly apologized to the actors of “Moonlight” and “La La Land” also presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway for the confusion.

BEST PICTURE

“Arrival” “Fences” “Hacksaw Ridge”

“Hell or High Water” “Hidden Figures” “La La Land”

“Lion”

“Manchester by the Sea” “Moonlight” (WINNER) ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Casey Affleck in “Manchester by the Sea” (WINNER)

Andrew Garfield in “Hacksaw Ridge” Ryan Gosling in “La La Land”

Viggo Mortensen in “Captain Fantastic” Denzel Washington in “Fences”

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Jeff Bridges in “Hell or High Water” Mahershala Ali in “Moonlight” (WINNER) Lucas Hedges in “Manchester by the Sea” Dev Patel in “Lion”

There are a lot of exciting movies coming out in February. The top movie that people have been waiting to watch for two years is Fifty Shades Darker (a sequel to 2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey) which comes out today Friday, February 10th.

Down below are a list of must see movies for the month of February. These movies are the top movies for romance, horror, comedy, children, and action.

Fifty Shades Darker

Genre: Romance
Comes Out on February 10, 2017

Daunted by the singular tastes and dark secrets of the handsome, tormented young entrepreneur Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele has broken off their relationship to start a new career with a Seattle Independent Publishing House (SIP); but desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, Anastasia cannot resist. They rekindle their searing sexual affair, and Anastasia learns more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven and demanding Fifty Shades.

While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront the anger and envy of the women who came before her, and make the most important decision of her life. All about the sex.

Get Out

Genre: Horror
Comes Out on February 24, 2017

A young African American man visits his white girlfriend’s family estate where he learns that many of its residents, who are black, have gone missing, and he soon learns the horrible truth when another frantic African-American warns him to “get out”. He soon learns this is easier said than done.

Fist Fight

Genre: Comedy
Comes out on February 17, 2017

When one school teacher gets the other fired, he is challenged to an after-school fight.

The Lego Batman Movie

Genre: Children’s Movie
Comes Out: February 10, 2017

There are big changes brewing in Gotham City, and if he wants to save the city from The Joker’s hostile takeover, Batman may have to drop the lone vigilante thing, try to work with others and maybe, just maybe, learn to lighten up.

The Great Wall

Genre: Action
Comes Out: February 17, 2017

When a mercenary warrior (Matt Damon) is imprisoned within the Great Wall, he discovers the mystery behind one of the greatest wonders of the world. As wave after wave of marauding beasts besiege the massive structure, his quest for fortune turns into a journey toward heroism as he joins a huge army of elite warriors to confront the unimaginable and seemingly unstoppable force.

The Suicide Squad star looks almost unrecognizable in her new forthcoming role. I, Tonya is an upcoming biopic about the infamous figure skater Tonya Harding. In the photo, you can see Robbie’s uncanny resemblance to Harding with classic 90’s denim, sweater top, and frizzy blonde hair. Apparently, all of the extra weight is from a body suit! The Film is set to release in 2018 and will follow the events leading up to Harding and her ex-husband’s attack on Nancy Kerrigan in 1994 at the Winter Olympic Games. The infamous attack was caught on camera and made headlines immediately. Harding never served jail time but did face other consequences.

Just the other day, as I decided on what plans I should make for the night, a friend suggested that we go on a double date to the movies. I haven’t been to the movies in a long time and was hesitant on agreeing to go. After thinking about it, I said “what the heck!” and prepared myself for a night out. We all had a hard time deciding which movie to see until my friend suggested a movie that had not been our radar. We decided to see Passengers. Starring award-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, the film follows the starship Avalon through a 120 year journey through space. The mission is to reach the planet Homestead II, a second earth if you will, and to establish a new colony. The Avalon is carrying 5,000 passengers who are all in hibernation pods, crew included. The ship is entirely automated, but after a malfunction in one of the hibernation pods, one passenger wakes up. Jim Preston (Chris Pratt), a mechanical engineer, wakes up confused and alone searching for other passengers and crew members. After realizing a malfunction occurred in his hibernation pod, multiple attempts to enter the ship’s deck, and talking to a android bartender named Arthur (Michael Sheen), Jim spends a whole year in space alone. Dispirited, Jim decides to intentionally wake up another passenger after discovering his true feelings for her after watching interviews stored in her digital profile. Writer Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence), is woken out of hibernation and spends a whole year with Jim and eventually falls in love with him too. Arthur accidentally reveals to Aurora that Jim intentionally woke her out of hibernation, a sentence worse than death as she’ll never see anyone but Jim until she dies. The starship eventually shuts down and the pair are forced to work together to fix it. I’ve already given way too much detail so I’m not going to spoil the ending. The sci-fi film left me in a wondrous and imaginative state! Overall, the film was enjoyable and worth seeing. Passengers is a story of love, survival, and trust. Check it out before it leaves theaters!

Star Wars prequels have been getting criticized massively lately, but finally someone stands up to it. Rian Johnson, the director of Star Wars: Episode VIII stands up and speaks aloud. He feels that the criticism isn’t being reviewed correctly. The prequels shouldn’t be viewed as what people wish they should be, they should be viewed as what they are because what they are is what made the movie be the movie it is. If you’re a Star Wars fan, you’ll know what the prequels consist of material that lead up to the movie. Although everyone is entitled to their own opinions, this prequel was mainly to try and teach a lesson about how fear can cause good people to lash out in negative ways as well.

The prequels often seem that they were designed to have different things that appeal to different people and personalities. The prequels aren’t perfect but in life nothing is. They could not be your favorite movies but in certain aspects you may enjoy some things about it. You don’t necessarily need to love everything in a movie in order to value something from it. Everyone views things differently but in some way shape or form you learn at least one thing from the movie.

So many movies being released this year but none of which caught my attention like Dangal. Dangal is the most awaited movie of 2016. It was rated 4.5 stars on almost every website as well as movie theaters. This film was directed by Nitesh Tiwari. It’s based on the life of former Indian wrestler Mahavir Phogat. It features Fatima Sana Sheikh and Sanya Malhorta who play his daughters. The idea of the film was to explain the struggles Mahavir Phogat faced which caused him to train his daughters making them India’s wrestling champions.

Dangal is an about motivation, encouragement, self-belief and a father daughter relationship. Due to this being based off of Mahavir Phogat, its being said no one can determine which parts are fictional or non-fictional. This movie is especially great for any individual who has had self-doubt or experienced a dark cloud over their life where they felt as if there was no solution. Watching this film, you will definitely experience a few goose bump moments and thrills. If you like watching movies that catch your attention with such intensity, thrill, and action then I would highly recommend you watch Dangal. Don’t miss out on the number one Intense movie of 2016!

Directed by Theodore Melfi, Hidden Figures stars Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, and Jim Parsons. The film follows Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) and two of her colleagues Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) who eventually become known as the “African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race” and is based on a true story. Set in Cold War America, the trio find themselves in the middle of a male dominated “Space Race” and must fight for respect. All three women were mathematicians who played significantly important roles in the American space program. The film emphasizes the preposterousness of racial segregation during the 1950/60’s. Although segregated to the West Area Computers division of the Langley Research Center, the women prove themselves through hard work and dedication without whom, the United States might have never had a chance in the Space Race. Astronaut John Glenn became the first American astronaut to make a complete orbit of the Earth, thanks to the calculations made by Johnson, Vaughan, and Jackson. The film has been considered for multiple accolades including multiple Critics Choice Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and Satellite Awards. The film has also won a Satellite award for Best Cast, a Women Film Critics Circle award for Best Movie about Women, Best Female Images in a Movie, Best Ensemble, Josephine Baker Award, and a Karen Morley Award. Congratulations to the cast and crew on a remarkable recounting of a true story. The film is set to be released on December 25, 2016.

The year is nearing its end and a wide variety of movies were released this year. How crazy is it to know that every month at least two to four new movies come out! Well this year was narrowed down to the top best 25 movies and guess who hit top of the line? “The Lobster!” The Lobster movie, is rated one of the best comedies released in the year of 2016. This movie was also labeled as one of the strangest movies of recent memory due to some clips and scenes throughout the movie. This movie contains an unusual plot to the story that your average movie doesn’t. The direct, Yorgos Lanthimos’ whose background is Greek, took this movie to a whole other level. This movie leaves you eager to find out what has yet to come.

The main actors Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz both part take in very interesting and unique characters in this movie. The catch to this movie, is that David (Colin Farrell) lives in a society where he has 45 days to fall in love and if that doesn’t happen he then turns in to an animal of his choice and released off in to the woods. This movie is extremely thrilling and very eye catching. If you haven’t seen this movie yet and you like interesting, thrilling, exciting and spontaneous films, I would highly suggest you grab a bag of popcorn and enjoy this movie!

A Trio of thieves invade the home of a wealthy blind man thinking it would be an easy job, but they were wrong. Don’t Breathe is directed by Fede Alvarez who also directed the Evil Dead remake in 2013, staring Jane Levy as Rocky, Dylan Minnette as Alex, Daniel Zovatto as Money and Stephen Lang as The Blind Man. With such a unique premise, this brings a refreshing take on the horror genre of which been falling behind with the clichés that has been overdone. Stephen Lang does a wonderful job portraying a blind man of who may seem fragile, but when his home is invaded, he become the most terrifying person to deal with, he will make you think twice about messing with him. Dylan Minnette and Jane Levy are well cast for the part as they show real fear enough that you want to root for their survival. Don’t Breathe is one of the best films of the summer and it’s worth the admission.

Last Friday Ghostbusters Starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon & Leslie Jones as the new reboot ghostbusters, also directed by Paul Feig whom previously worked with McCarthy on Spy, The Heat & Bridesmaids (Along with Kristen Wiig) officially release with mixed reviews. Also before the film’s release it was met with so much controversy about the all-female cast appearing in a reboot of a beloved 80s classic ranging from the overt sexist attacks about a female ghostbusters team; calling it a SJW (Social Justice Warrior) & Feminist film as well the other side just call it a bad film using bad jokes. Both of these attacks has affected the film’s marketing to the point where Sony using these attacks to promoted their movie again with mixed results. So now it finally released in theaters, how it the movie itself despite mixed reviews.

Well…its ok, it’s not bad or terrible as one would think, but it’s not great neither. Ghostbuster reboot is just…ok. The comedy is a hit or miss in some areas, the funny ones are not in the trailer and all the jokes you hate from the trailer. Chris Hemsworth plays Kevin, the receptionist and plays a dumb blonde stereotype; this character is hammered so hard on how stupid he is that he become a cartoon. It’s even believable anymore after 5 mins of his performance and it becomes refreshing that he changes later in the film when he is possessed by the main villain.

Speaking of the main villain, Neil Casey plays the weird Rowan North who is also into ghost, but into capturing them, he wants to let them free into the world so he can destroy it. That’s it, that is his entire motivation and it’s a weak one. In original film the villain was Walter Peck of whom he maybe a guy with no dick, he’s justified in his actions of shutting down the ghostbuster. Rowan North is not, the world has its faults, but he also acts so strange that he just put people of him. The only nice people he meets throughout the film was Leslie Jones’ character Patty Tolan, Ozzy Osborne fans and Melissa McCarthy’s character Abby Yates and he still acts so strange, thus puts them off.

Despite the issue of bad characters, bad jokes and a bad villain (also when the giant monster appear, it just ignores the heroes after 1 minute of fighting them…that was stupid, it didn’t need to stop and it only went against our heroes when they have to close the portals.) the film is just ok in the end. It has some good moments, the intro for example is really good in building the vibe as well Kate McKinnon’s character. Nothing in this film sticks out in a manner that would make it memorable. I believe that is the problem here, it is so ok, that nothing sticks out. Fans will quote lines from the first 2 Ghostbusters films, but I doubt they will do the same with this.

If you’re curious, please go see Ghostbusters, but if you enjoy watch the original film, just stick to that, there is no need to see the new one if you get all the Ghostbuster love from the 1984 movie.

Also the theme that plays at the beginning of the credits is a much better rendition of the classic theme than Fall Out Boy ft. Missy Elliot’s take.

In March of this year, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice release with mixed reviews. As for my opinion, the film is not good. They’re scenes that don’t make sense, character motivations are just weak, casting choices/directions are just wrong for these iconic characters. But does the “Ultimate Edition” improve this film enough to fix these issues?

Well Yes and No. The Ultimate cut does add more context to Clark Cent/Superman on why he is against Batman, we found out more about Lex’s plan to put the public (and batman) against superman and this does feel more fleshed out. But all that said there are some additions that hurt the film. For instincts, if there are still fans who believe Batman didn’t kill a lot of people, this cut is not shy on letting you know that BATMAN KILLS. Example: in Batman big fight scene leading up to the climax, batman chugs a box towards the henchman to knock him down, the Ultimate cut lets you know that attack actually kills him.

It stuff likes that shows the path of future DCU films, for them to be gritty and brutal just to be different from marvel. If you like BvS, then you’ll like this Ultimate cut, but if you hate the movie, this cut doesn’t really change your mind.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of justice Ultimate Edition is available now for Digital Download and the Bluray is set to release on July 19th

It seems to be impossible to make a successful video game adaptation. What I mean about “successful” is “critically” successful, since the majority of these films may do well financially, but not well with critics. They don’t give it any good praises about the film and it has become tradition to just expect failure from video game adaptations. Are critics just being too harsh with this genre or are they in the right? At least for this one?

Well let’s start with Warcraft. Directed by Duncan Jones, it stars two factions in conflict with each other, Humans vs Orcs. To keep in mind, this film is based on Blizzard Entertainment’s first Warcraft game, “Warcraft: Orcs & Humans”, not the MMO “World of Warcraft” that casual viewers whether gamer (non-fan of Warcraft series) and non-gamer would most likely know. Fans of this series would understand this film a lot more than anyone else. In this movie stars Toby Kebbell playing the Orc “Durotan” who is the leader of his clan and searching for a new world for his people while he and the rest follow the shaman “Gul’dan” played by Daniel Wu who has his own goals on destroying the new world by literally sucking the life out of it. As the humans of Azeroth now have to fight this new faction to protect their world by allying with a half human and half orc Garona played by Paula Patton and Durotan who wants to stop Gul’dan from destroying the world of the humans since it was his magic that destroyed the orc world.

With this premise, one would think it would be great to add on some good character development, but for the humans, they don’t seem to engaging like the Orcs. In fact, the Orcs are the better characters, Durotan, Gul’dan and Orgrim are more engaging enough for the viewer to care about more. Not much with the humans forced romance, Travis Fimmel’s Anduin weird watery eyes as it seemed that’s the only thing he knows how to do, even with a serious scene he makes that face with his eyes. Since he does that so much that it kills the scene it trying to make.

Another issue the film haves that it tries to put in so much of the lore of the series that anybody who is not aware of it feels like homework to have to learn about it just to understand it instead of expanding one’s knowledge it. But at least the score and visually effect are wonderful and as I said about this film, I do hope it does well because I want to see more of this world. But I don’t know if casual viewers want to come back to the World of Warcraft (Pun intended).